- Tried & Tasted -

Thursday, 26 May 2016

Raspberry Swirls Lemon Cheesecake

This is my basic bake cheesecake recipe that I always usewhenever I want to whip up a cheesecake for my family. The ingredients list does not include flour, sour cream or heavy cream but instead natural Greek yogurtis used. This recipe allows me to bake a cheesecake withno crack on the surface.Please refer to notes below to achieve a smooth surface on your baked cheesecake.

Cheesecake cooling in the cake pan

The swirls on the surface of the cake was done by pulling drops of raspberry jam using a toothpick.I liked how they turned out andlove the heart shaped swirls more.

I ate the slice of cheesecake that was used for this photo shoot. I was rewarded with a smooth, lemon-y with a hint of raspberry flavour(from the jam) cheesecake layer sitting on a crunchy, sandy (in a very good way) with warm Speculoos spice biscuit base. I enjoyed the paring of flavors and contrast in textures.

Lemon Cheesecake with Raspberry Swirl

(makes 2 x 6" thinner cheesecake)

Ingredients:

Filling

500g cream cheese, room temperature

100g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla paste or 1 Tbsp vanilla extract2 tsp of lemon juice

3 eggs

90ml Greek yogurt, room temperature

Zest of 1 lemon

Base

25g butter, melted and cooled

150gBiscoffcaramelized biscuits

Steps to base:

Butter
and line the base of a two 6" round pans. I used a regular cake pan as it
will ensure that there will not be any leakage of water into the cake
when placed into a water bath in the later steps.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Place caramelized biscuits into a zip lock bag and using a rolling pin roll over the bag to crush the biscuits into fine crumbs or you can use a food processor to crush the biscuit

Pour the crushed biscuits into a mixing bowl and mix in the butter, until mixture resembles wet sand.

Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the cake pans and bake in the oven for 6 min. Cool and set aside.

Steps to filling:

Turn the temperature of oven to 150 degrees C.

In
the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the
cream cheese, sugar, salt, vanilla paste or extract on medium-high
speed, scrapping down the bowl several times until the mixture is
completely smooth, about 5 min.

Turn
the mixer to low and beat in the eggs, one at a time, until blended,
scrapping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the
Greek yogurt until blended.

Pour the cream cheese mixture equally into both the cake pan that contained the cooled biscuit base.

Boil some water in a kettle.

Place
the filled 6" cake pan in a roasting pan or acake pan bigger than itself,
like a 9" cake pan, this is to create a water bath for the cheese cake as it bakes.

Place
the roasting pan or the bigger cake pan in the center of the oven and very carefully
pour the boiling water into the roasting pan or the bigger cake pan
until the water is 3cm up the sides of the 6" cake pans.

Bake until the filling is set but still jiggles slightly in the center, 18 - 20min.

Remove
the cake from the water bath very carefully and let it cool to room
temperature, 2 - 3h. Leave the cake to cool and do not move it. Then
chill the cake in the fridge for 4 to 6 h, or preferably overnight, in
the pan.

Once
totally chilled, heat up the base of the cake by placing it in hot
water for 1 minute and invert the pan onto a 6" cake round or a large
plate. Remove the pan from the cake and invert once more onto a 6" round
or large plate so the crust is on the bottom.

Notes:

Let all the ingredients, especially cream cheese, eggs and Greek yogurt, to come to room temperature before mixing.

The water bath must cover at least 3cm from the base of the cake pan when baking. This ensures even and gentle heat while baking the cheesecake.

Remove
cake once 2cm of the side of the cake have set while the center of
the cake jiggles slightly. As the cake cools, the residual heat will continue to set the cake.

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'Pastry is like people...Some dough needs a lot of kneading, some requires much less. Some dough is satisfied to rise just a little, while other dough needs to double in size. All dough needs warmth to rise.'